MOONBASE CENTRAL: February 2022

Monday, 28 February 2022

REST OF THE BEST

This old cheapo cowpoke to my eye looks remarkably like Johnny West from Marx's Best of the West range. Would you agree?

I loved my Johnny back in the day and Chief Cherokee too.

Did you go West?

FOUR CASTS

A few light licks on these new recruits and off they go into the display cabinet.

The gold Merc just got a rub down.

WHEN DINOSAURS RULED NEW JERSEY!

Hi Woodsy. Its been a great day for Monster Base: Dinosaur Division!

After some careful negotiation, I have acquired a very nice Kenner Jurassic Park Command Compound Playset. A magnificent toy on its own, I have plans to make it bigger and better!

I have some great dino playsets by Schleich which are compatible with JP.

Also some playsets by Chap Mei/Animal Planet (that I bought during ToysRUs' final days for pennies on the dollar) that are also the same scale.

My plan is to combine these playsets. The end result will be the Dinosaur Park to end them all! If this project happens in the future, I will be sure to share pics with Moonbase Central!!

BrianF

NJ USA

Sunday, 27 February 2022

MONSTER BASE NEWS: IT'S THUNDEROUS!

Woodsy,

I'm kind of shifting gears next. I'm moving in a Jurassic Park-ish direction as I'm in talks to acquire a Kenner JP Command Compound, a toy I know you are familiar with.

I have also ordered two playsets from Schleich that are essentially JP compatible. Combined with Chap Mei/ Animal Planet playsets, I plan on creating a Prehistoric attraction that would have made even old J. Hammond envious!-

Brian

Monster Base, NJ

Brian's Dreadful Drag Race of Monsters

It's revving up at New Jersey's Monster Base!

Roarin' Aurora!

Brian's creepy fleet is ready to roll!

Both were built with his own monstrous hands!

What do you think?

THE HUMAN FACTOR: IS IT THE THING IN DISGUISE?

I caught the Outer Limits episode on Friday night, The Human Factor, which I've never seen before.

What struck me was the sub-plot, the discovery of an alien in the icy wastes, is essentially the plot of the Thing.

The characters in the Human Factor even describe the alien as the thing most of the time!

Is there a connection?

Oddly enough, on another channel The Thing was showing on TV just after the Outer Limits! Its a shape shifting, body melting coincidence!

MUMMY MACHINE AT MONSTER BASE

Hi Woodsy.

Well, model mania continues here at Monster Base. Having completed a new model recently, I decided to touch up one of my older models that had kind of dilapidated over the years.

Here's The Mummy Machine, an AMT re issue from 1998. I recently rescued the box from the attic and was horrified to see the old relic crumbling into the Sands of Time!

A little glue and touch of paint and The Mummy Machine is up to Cruising Speed!

-BrianF

NJ USA

OK TOYS NEW FLYING SAUCER?

I wonder if this OK Toys DB flying saucer is a variation of the JR21 New Flying Saucer? What do you think? JR21 link in the labels below the post.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-space-ship-db-battery-526427967

Saturday, 26 February 2022

DANGER: MYSTERONS AT WORK

Following on from my fellow blogger, Woodsy finding a photo of a TV TORNADO Anti-Mysteron badge on-line a while back, I thought I'd reacquaint myself with the early Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons promotions in SOLO and TV TORNADO comics.

SOLO comic appeared in February, 1967. It was a curious mix of assorted Disney characters with a couple of American TV series thrown in for good measure. Its feature strip was a colour centre spread featuring The Scarecrow based on the 1963 Disney production. SOLO presumably took it's title from UNCLE agent, Napoleon Solo as SOLO did carry a black & white Man from UNCLE strip following its departure from Lady Penelope comic, which replaced it with The Girl from UNCLE.

I seem to remember picking up the odd issue at the time, but I must confess SOLO isn't really a favourite of mine, being a bit too much of a mixed bag for me; too much Disney, and no popular stand out strip . I'm not sure who SOLO's target audience was, or how well it sold. It had a short run; 31 issues, and had a fairly conspicuous make over just over halfway through its run.

I should say I don't own any SOLO issues and don't have access to a full run of SOLO scans (my thanks to all the scanners, though) to examine, so I don't claim to know every detail, so apologies if I miss something significant.

One of the first hints at changes to come is in issue 16, with an article written by SOLO editor, Alan L. Fennell dealing with an aircraft that had apparently crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, and yet, somehow landed safely sometime later at Heathrow airport, completely unscathed!

SOLO's Investigative reporter, John Marsh is assigned to investigate, a mysterious force is suspected!

I do wonder if some readers concluded this was a real life mystery. There's no mention of Mysterons (not that many readers would have heard of them at that point, anyway). While it's hardly obvious promotional material for the new Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's series, it was intriguing!

Issue 19, dated June 24, 1967 saw the comic get a complete re-vamp, with a Project SWORD comic strip joining the line up, along with new features based on the as yet unscreened Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons TV series. From then on each edition of SOLO was an 'Anti-Mysteron Edition'! Spectrum News reported on the mysterious Mysteron threat, and The Mark of The Mysterons followed reporter, John Marsh (his likeness based on another of the editorial staff) on his hunt for Mysteronised agents in a new double page comic strip.

Sadly, the colour centre spread was dropped, presumably down to cost cutting. I'd hazard a guess that the Mark of The Mysterons might have filled that colour slot.

Some photos I took at one of the Fanderson conventions of a couple of original Mark of The Mysterons artboards.

Mark of The Mysterons isn't a bad strip, which is more or less a take on the 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' theme, and reminiscent of The Invaders TV series. The artwork by Don Harley and later, Tom Kerr is pretty good. The problem is there's very little connection with the premise of the upcoming TV series. In the strip the Mysterons order their (Mysteronised) agents by thought (bubble), Mysteron agents can be photographed , however the image comes out as a negative, unlike the TV series where its discovered Mysteron agents are revealed by using X - Rays!

The glaring error is these promotional meanderings take place in contemporary times, a hundred years before Captain Black ticks off the Mysterons on Mars, so why the Mysterons are trying to take over the bodies of Earthmen years before they're attacked remains a mystery.

Anti-Mysteron Organisation or A.M.O., but did readers know about Spectrum?

A front page photo on SOLO, showing an unused scene from the feature film , 'Thunderbirds are Go!'

Some nice front page artwork, Eric Eden perhaps?

SOLO carried plenty of Mysteron related articles, including the assassination of someone who looks remarkably similar to one of the production staff, Dennis Hooper!

Issue 31, dated September 16, 1967 was the final issue of SOLO, with a front cover showing photos of Victims of The Mysterons', in actuality what appears to be photos of the editorial staff . Inside was an uninspired advert for the new Captain Scarlet annual, and news that next week SOLO joins TV Tornado. I get the distinct impression that SOLO was hastily cancelled. Even the Project SWORD comic strip serial was cut short with just a single page rushed text story resolution.

That same week TV Tornado issue 36 featured a photo cover of a Mysteron city, proclaiming that The Mysterons are here!

Inside was a brand new Mysteron strip, drawn by Don Harley. It starts at the point when the Mysteron city is attacked by Zero X, and generally told from The Mysterons' point of view. At the end of the first instalment we get to see the ancient form of the Mysterons; a floating geometrical shape with eyes, not unlike a modern football!

The general story premise is because they've declared war on Earth, the Mysterons, then decide to 'conquer the Universe'! A bit ambitious, I'll grant you, but that's The Mysterons for you!

However, I can't help being reminded of the ambitions of another bunch of alien cyborgs; the Daleks! Even the 'ancient shape' of the Mysterons look a bit like 'a Mechanoid'!

The story uses several elements from the TV series; The Mysteron complex on Mars; the strip uses the same TV titles typeface for the title header; Zero X makes more than one appearance ; the retrometabolism ray is used; Mysterons can only be killed by an Electrode Gun; and unsurpringly, they Mysteronise the occasional body!

An advert also appeared telling readers that next week's edition would contain a free Anti-Mysteron badge.

I do wonder, as England had won the World Cup the year before, if the editors intended the Mysteron to look a bit like a football!

TV Tornado issue 37,dated September 23, 1967, the first incorporating the name SOLO on the masthead.

That same week TV21, after a few teasers the previous weeks, began their own full on promotion of Captain Scarlet in issue 140, dated September 23, 2067 starting with a front cover telling readers , Spectrum is Green! The following week, issue 141, dated September 30, 2067, TV21 started it's own Captain Scarlet strip, more or less coinciding with the series' initial airing on the ATV television region on September 29, 1967.

The Mysteron strip continued in TV Tornado until issue 58, dated February 17, 1968. I'd like to think the strip worked well for Scarlet fans intrigued by the mystery of The Mysterons!

VAN GO!

A little jazzing up of an old Matchbox Dodge van I have. Some black and silver.

We're off!

Friday, 25 February 2022

YAKKETY YAK

Junior's latest oldish acquisition is this transforming yak.

Released by Bandai in 2001.

No idea what it is. You?

AXLE ROWS

My latest batch of small vehicles for touching up.

The Horsebox is a donation from Moonbase Junior. The other 4, 3 Matchbox and a Corgi Police car, are from the British Heart Foundation shop, where they bag up cars into fours and sell them for £2 a bag. Result!

As Monsters Rise

Wallpaper Flare

Boy Oh Boy

This week I've been watching children's TV with our Grandson Moonbase Junior.

He likes PJ Masks, Scooby Do and especially Pokemon Master Journeys.

Now Pokemon is a Japanese phenomenon and I assume that what we see on TV is the dubbed show. Even so I personally found the dubbing unintelligible and the content I could fathom was complete gibberish.

I can't decide if this is a dubbing issue or my age or just my rubbish hearing. Junior seemed to get every word!

As a kid I watched what was maybe the only anime on British TV in the Sixties ( probably wrong about that) - Marine Boy - which I adored and I understood everything, so what's changed?

Do you struggle with dubbing readers? What do you think of modern kids' TV?

Knight Shift

As darkness gathers the shadows deepen and night consumes day.

Time for a Recharge

A Postcard for Mother

Clockwork Fun with Technofix

I found these clips on You Tube, showing various toys in action. Most are working tinplate road or railway layouts, with the vehicles running around them. They are look like great fun. All seem to be by the same company, Technofix.

A train which loads and unloads a group of three cars.

1967 TECHNOFIX "AUTO TRAIN" CREATED FOR AND BY GEM.BROTHER.9112 FOR EBAY. - YouTube

A small industrial train with a single wagon, which can be filled with boulders, and then emptied.

VINTAGE TECHNOFIX NR. 322 "INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORT" MADE BY AND FOR GEM.BROTHER.911 FOR EBAY - YouTube

A fleet of single-car railbuses running around a track.

Der Technofix Rocky-Mountains-Train... - YouTube

A pair of trucks loading and unloading, and switching their loads.

1966 Technofix Gigant 315 - YouTube

A busy city road layout.

TECHNOFIX 295 TRAFFIC CONTROL 1959 , KALAO 31 - YouTube

Grand Prix motor racing, with three saloon cars.

Technofix Autorennbahn Nr. 302 GRAND PRIX full action .avi - YouTube